This is the big one so it goes first. The lightning rod. Questioning something at play within the Democratic Party from Nixon times:
History matters, so briefly: McGovern was a popular grassroots presidential candidate choice. Party elite disagreed. Nixon had a strong supportive following, the Dems did not make a thing of Watergate until after McGovern's defeat and the coporate owned press, less concentrated than today, either ignored or demonized McGovern. He lost, and the party elite put so-called superdelegate giant thumb on the scale from then on so that grassroots mattered far less than if the anti-democratic step had not been taken. Skip to the present, there is the Internet now, ideally Net Neutral but separate that out for now. There are other communication channels besides Big Media, and that is how Bernie got the Bern across to the populace, thereby generating a host of fervent contributions averaging twenty-seven dollars rs each. Not big money but grassroots money in a large enough aggregate for the cause of making the nation fairer to regular people. Millionaires and billionaires still "invest" in lobbying and funding candidacies friendly and pliant toward the likes of Goldman Sachs, the Russians; whoever besides ordinary working citizens without millions of discretionary dollars each.
That noted, the belief unless proven wrong in caucus is that the end of "superdelegates" would be a popular winner; but that next step up after a committee had reviewed and edited, it would be MIA due to insider disapproval. Fully expecting that to make the effort an exercise in frustration, if you don't rock the boat you cannot awake the sleeping folks within. A reaction of silent rejection along the way from working grassroots up is expected, but a contrary surprise would be most entirely welcome.
[UPDATE: Because the above proposed resolution, which is frank and honest, might not sit well with some DFL inner party higher-ups, and even with some grassroots, an arguably gentler version is presented below, without any mention of names, but it's always going to be about Bernie getting a rigged system imposed against him, so fix it. While the central inner party DC beltway types may figure that two/four years of Trump-Pence would tilt the 2018 and 2020 elections local, state level, and nationally to all-Dem majorities everywhere Nirvana, that belief is questionable, at best, and the stakes are too high for such arrogance and complacency in the face of widespread feelings that reform is necessary and beyond overdue.]
Next. Net Neutrality, a proposal that is of critical importance but one which should generate little opposition:
Next: Many of the freedoms we enjoy, perhaps taken for granted, were fought for at the turn of the twentieth century by union activists, often at great human cost inflicted by opposing forces such as during the Matewan or The Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor strikes of 1892 and 1899. The DFL must in every platform reassert its bond with laborers, be they organized or those not yet organized:
Parallel non-union labor support via minimum wage resolutions, if offered here, would clearly be cumulative of others expected.
Next: Basic human decency, need and not conduct should be the only relevant factor in granting public benefits:
Next: A range of items, tied together by a worry that indirect disenfranchisement of voters who may more likely vote Democrat may lie behind some Republican policies; with the obvious voter ID issue being ever present. Not wanting to be cumulative of other expected voter ID resolution proposals, the aim is to see other less-than-direct things afoot:
Click that hummer to get a sense of the states at risk. Blue and put on tenter hooks, and if there is piecemeal enforcement there a lot of blue voters will find themselves felons without a right to vote. Rattlesnakes rattle before striking, cobras raise up. With JBS III, notice need not be given. Strike while the pipe is hot? This sets a tone, subliminal perhaps, but moving on.
JBS III has been tied to the private prison cash cow for those wanting maximum occupancy, more cash that way just like a hotel. The easiest to incarcerate, drug users, or those alleged to have possessed drugs in plain view during a police encounter. Discretion in prosecution can mean likely Dems are first choice. Besides that, basically, private prisons are not inclined to view overcrowding as a bad thing. Yet beyond anything else, emprisonment is an action of government, depriving individuals of liberty, so it should be administered and properly funded by the acting government.
[UPDATE: A prior version of the above was in error and is moot. Per reporting from 2016 the Minnesota Senate passed a proposal that non-incarcerated felons would have voting rights and felons once released from prison would only need to register to be able to vote. That proposal was not made law. The above corrected text reflects the Senate intent from 2016.] That disenfranchisement catch has been noted before, and the item may be duplicated by resolutions offered by others. The next one is a clearly recognized issue, but terse wording that is inclusive is not easy to state:
The last sentence is often overlooked during cannabis debate, (but not by Republican Mary Franson). Beyond that, much medical literature and popular argument exists to the effect that tobacco ad alcohol each are more dangerous to health than cannabis, which has some medical uses beyond debate.
Last: This may be cumulative of other resolutions. It, however is hard to word in a way both terse and precise, so an attempt was made which should pass in any precinct caucus where offered, without opposition:
For example who is funding at what levels the Taxpayer League, and what is the spending pattern? Ditto, Freedom Club. Center for the American Experience. Or how much cash is Harold Hamilton funneling to Anoka County Record personnel every issue where his Watchdog stuff gets published each issue as "PAID ADVERTISEMENT?" Citizens should know that stuff. If any such push-publishing or propagandizing is done by Democrats or their supporters in Minnesota, citizens deserve fiscal detail disclosure of that too. Sunshine is the best disinfectant.
So nine items total. Many more could be written and offered. Goals were, first item pyrotecnics from inner party entrenched sorts; others aimed at uncontroversial things in general, and with a worry about blue voter sneak attacks. Figure what you like. Click the image and download it and use it in your Feb. 6, precinct caucus. I do hope that first one grows legs among caucusing Bernie people.